The Teaching of the Comforter (John 14:25-26)

In verses 25 and 26 Jesus deals with an obvious question that would have been in the minds of the disciples, which is, ‘How could they remember everything that Jesus had said to them?’ It is obvious, given the questions that were asked by Philip, Thomas and Judas, that they were in a state of ignorance regarding the meaning of the words of Jesus. He informs them that this would be one of the roles of the Holy Spirit once he had come to them as Jesus’ representative.

We must consider a few qualifications regarding this statement by Jesus. First, he does not mean that the disciples are going to become omniscient, that they will literally understand all things. There are many things that Christ’s disciples will not know. For example, they do not know the future or do they know who among the unconverted will become Christians.

Second, Jesus did not entrust the future knowledge of the church to human minds. I suppose we could assume that the best group of people to pass on the message that is about Jesus and was taught by Jesus would be those who had spent three years with him. Undoubtedly, there is a sense in which that is the case. But their experience of Christ in itself was not sufficient. Their testimony is not merely the result of personal reflections on their time with Jesus. The fact is that their knowledge of Jesus is given to them by the Holy Spirit.

Third, while the Spirit is not going to teach all knowledge to the disciples, he is going to teach them everything that Jesus had taught them. This is a warning to us not to divide the various teachings of Jesus into primary and secondary matters. While it is the case that a person can be saved without knowing everything that Jesus taught, it does not mean that we can dispense with any teaching that he gave. The same can be said about the entirety of God’s Word.

The denial of this truth can be very subtle. There are individuals who prefer doctrine over against practice and there are those who prefer practice as over against doctrine. A person may like to discuss deep doctrine but fail to visit a lonely believer; such a person is ignoring the necessity of obeying the ‘all things’ of Jesus. On the other hand, a person may engage in works of mercy and never take part in learning the doctrines of the faith. That person has also failed to obey the ‘all things’ that Jesus has in mind for his disciples.

This statement of Jesus is a description of a spiritual or Spirit-filled person. It illustrates for us the meaning of a balanced Christian life. We need to pay heed to the all things that Jesus taught and be thankful that we have the Spirit to teach us.

In what ways is the Spirit qualified to teach?

First, we can say that the selection committee that chose him is highly qualified. We are used to selection panels made up of suitably qualified individuals who are charged with the task of discovering the best person for an important teaching position. In a far higher sense, a selection committee met to discuss who should fill the important role of teaching the disciples of Jesus. Who was on the selection committee? The persons of the Trinity made up the committee, and their unanimous choice was that one of their number should fulfil this role.

Second, we note that he shares the mission of the Father and the Son, which is to bring the blessings of salvation to the world. The Holy Spirit has the same interest in communicating these blessings to sinners everywhere. He is equally passionate in fulfilling the eternal purpose of bringing blessing to sinners.

Third, the Holy Spirit, because he is divine, simultaneously can comfort every believer in Jesus who is in the world. His classroom does not have limitations, either in terms of location or in size of numbers. He is everywhere present and can teach believers in every country at the same time.

Fourth, the Holy Spirit is a superb teacher in that he has no failures in his classroom. True, there are differences in degree in the progress made by disciples, but they all make progress. Nobody in the Spirit’s school will get a failure mark at the end of the school term, which occurs at graduation day when they enter heaven.

In what ways will the Spirit teach the disciples?

First, the Holy Spirit will teach the truths of Jesus graciously. By this I mean that he will always remember that his pupils are sinners. He knows that they have a great learning disability that has to be overcome, that in addition to their ignorance there can be an antipathy to being taught.

Second, the Spirit will teach the truth gradually. He knows that we cannot absorb all the truth in one go. Therefore, he teaches according to our development in spiritual things. This means that his pupils who have moved through various stages in his teaching process need to be tolerant of the lack of truth in younger disciples. The assessment of such should be made by what they knew as young Christians and not on what they know now.

Third, the Spirit will teach the truth gladly. He will always rejoice in teaching us. I’m sure every human teacher has had his or her reluctant days. But he never has had one. Throughout each stage of every believer’s learning process, the Spirit has maintained his interest in teaching each one of him or her. Today, as we gather in the Spirit’s classroom, we have a delighted Teacher.

Fourth, the Spirit will teach us with graduation day in mind. I’m sure one of the joys of a teacher’s work is when his or her pupils leave school ready for life in adulthood. In a far greater way, the Spirit is preparing us for our graduation day, when we receive our prizes. No doubt we will rejoice to hear Jesus say, ‘Well done,’ to us, but the Spirit also will be glad on that day. When the children are presented by the Elder Brother to the heavenly Father, the Spirit too will rejoice at the completion of salvation.

In passing, let us think of some of the classrooms in the heavenly Teacher’s school. First, there is the language class. Pupils often learn a foreign language, such as French or German, in case they will need to use it later. The pupils of the Holy Spirit are also learning another language, the language of Canaan. They are learning to speak in a way that pleases God, whether they are speaking to him or about him.

A second classroom is the arithmetic class where they are taught to count their blessings. Often, this class has to be repeated because they often forget how many blessings they have. But the heavenly Teacher encourages them to do it, naming the blessings one by one.

A third classroom is the nutrition class where they learn about their own anatomy. They discover that they have certain features and how to use them. They learn about the importance of eating the correct spiritual food and avoiding junk food, of the importance of taking spiritual exercise such as prayer.

A fourth classroom is the history class where they are taught about the progress of Christ’s kingdom. The Holy Spirit has a textbook that he uses in every class, which is the Bible. In it there are details of the progress the church has made. This history class is a bit unusual because it also includes teaching about the future of the church, of where it is going when Jesus returns.

In what situations will we need this ministry of the Spirit?

The classrooms mentioned above are general pictures of the way and locations where the Spirit takes the teaching of Jesus and applies it to us. We can be more specific about these places.

One such location is the place of affliction. Every pupil in the Spirit’s class undergoes these times of trouble. Things go wrong and they discover that they need comfort to help through these hard times. When they occur, the Spirit takes suitable passages from the Bible and speaks them into their souls. Linked to the times of affliction are times of anxiety. In such times, the Spirit instructs them to fear not.

Another location where we need the Spirit’s help is times of ambivalence when our spiritual perception is sluggish and our involvement in spiritual activities becomes lethargic. We need a spiritual tonic to revive our flagging souls and stimulate our participation in Christian things. Our heavenly Teacher knows which scriptures to use in order to revive us again.

A third location of the Spirit’s teaching is the place of ambition, where the pupils may be developing an interest in the wrong subjects. Just as a pupil may begin preparing for an unsuitable career, so a Christian can develop an interest in inappropriate positions. He may begin to live for this world and forget about storing up treasures in heaven. So the Spirit draws near and reminds the believer of what should be his proper ambitions.

There is a fourth location where the Spirit loves to teach and that is the places where his pupils show great ardour for their Master, Jesus Christ. In this situation, the Holy Spirit will strengthen his disciples so they can learn more about Jesus and experience more of his love.

We have already mentioned that the Spirit teaches successfully, with no failures. He also strengthens those he teaches so that they will be able to learn more and more. Along with these, his teaching is marked by a sweetness that makes it very enjoyable, and learning becomes a delight.

The consequences of the Spirit’s teaching

As we close, I would mention three consequences of the Spirit’s teaching. The first is that his pupils can have a heavenly understanding at any given time. The second is that they develop humility as they increase in learning, not only because of the little they know but also because of the greatness of their teacher and the grandeur of the subjects they have been instructed in.

The third consequence is that they look forward to his continued instruction in the world to come. If this life can be likened to teaching in a secondary school, then heaven is like the instructions in a university. There are significant aspects of these great subjects, which we cannot appreciate in this life. But we will in the next!